2022 – Nero’s Law - MSPCA-Angell

An Act allowing humane transportation of K9 partners aka Nero’s law

Passed by the Senate on November 10, 2021. Passed by the House on February 3, 2022. Signed by Governor Baker on February 15, 2022. Read the law: Chapter 23 of the Acts of 2022.

Filed by Representative Steven Xiarhos and Senator Mark Montigny, this law allows a police dog (a dog owned by a police department or police agency of the Commonwealth, or any political subdivision thereof, that is used by the department or agency for official duties) injured in the line of duty to be transported in an ambulance if there is not competing need for human transport.

Similar laws already existed in several other states when this bill passed: California, Colorado, Ohio, and Wisconsin allowed pre-veterinary treatment for dogs and cats by EMS; Mississippi, New York, Illinois, and Michigan allowed for police K9s to be transported by EMS; Maine allowed for police K9s and service dogs to be treated and transported by EMS.

Photo from Yarmouth Police Department Facebook

The town of Yarmouth suffered an incredible tragedy in April of 2018 when Sergeant Sean Gannon was killed in the line of duty. Also injured in this vicious attack was Gannon’s canine partner, Nero. Nero suffered life-threatening injuries and was unable to be treated by emergency medical personnel due to existing state law that prohibits working animals from being treated or transported by emergency personnel.

This law:

Allows emergency personnel to treat injured police dogs.
Allows emergency personnel to transport injured police dogs.
Requires any emergency personnel that would render care to a police dog to have completed training consistent with standards approved by the Office of Emergency Medical Services.

Co-Sponsors

State Senators

Name	District/Address	Name	District/Address
Mark C. Montigny	Second Bristol and Plymouth	Walter F. Timilty	Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth
Bruce E. Tarr	First Essex and Middlesex	Patrick M. O’Connor	Plymouth and Norfolk
Susan L. Moran	Plymouth and Barnstable	Nick Collins	First Suffolk
Julian Cyr	Cape and Islands	John F. Keenan	Norfolk and Plymouth
Michael O. Moore	Second Worcester	Anne M. Gobi	Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Middlesex
Michael D. Brady	Second Plymouth and Bristol	Jason M. Lewis	Fifth Middlesex
Ryan C. Fattman	Worcester and Norfolk	Sal N. DiDomenico	Middlesex and Suffolk
Diana DiZoglio	First Essex	John J. Cronin	Worcester and Middlesex
John C. Velis	Second Hampden and Hampshire	–

State Representatives

Name	District/Address	Name	District/Address
Steven G. Xiarhos	5th Barnstable	Joseph W. McGonagle, Jr.	28th Middlesex
Alyson M. Sullivan	7th Plymouth	Bradford Hill	4th Essex
Mathew J. Muratore	1st Plymouth	Paul F. Tucker	7th Essex
Patrick Joseph Kearney	4th Plymouth	James M. Murphy	4th Norfolk
Adam J. Scanlon	14th Bristol	Andres X. Vargas	3rd Essex
David T. Vieira	3rd Barnstable	William C. Galvin	6th Norfolk
Timothy R. Whelan	1st Barnstable	Angelo L. D’Emilia	8th Plymouth
Sarah K. Peake	4th Barnstable	Carol A. Doherty	3rd Bristol
Christopher Hendricks	11th Bristol	Carmine Lawrence Gentile	13th Middlesex
Colleen M. Garry	36th Middlesex	Dylan A. Fernandes	Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket
Brian M. Ashe	2nd Hampden	Michael P. Kushmerek	3rd Worcester
Hannah Kane	11th Worcester	Antonio F. D. Cabral	13th Bristol
Steven S. Howitt	4th Bristol	David Allen Robertson	19th Middlesex
Bradley H. Jones, Jr.	20th Middlesex	John Barrett, III	1st Berkshire
Alan Silvia	7th Bristol	F. Jay Barrows	1st Bristol
Patricia A. Duffy	5th Hampden	Kevin G. Honan	17th Suffolk
Paul McMurtry	11th Norfolk	Donald R. Berthiaume, Jr.	5th Worcester
David F. DeCoste	5th Plymouth	Kate Lipper-Garabedian	32nd Middlesex
Kimberly N. Ferguson	1st Worcester	Josh S. Cutler	6th Plymouth
Joseph D. McKenna	18th Worcester	Christina A. Minicucci	14th Essex
William M. Straus	10th Bristol	Tami L. Gouveia	14th Middlesex
Shawn Dooley	9th Norfolk	Edward R. Philips	8th Norfolk
Kathleen R. LaNatra	12th Plymouth	Sally P. Kerans	13th Essex
Kelly W. Pease	4th Hampden	Natalie M. Blais	1st Franklin
Michael J. Soter	8th Worcester	Meghan Kilcoyne	12th Worcester
Patricia A. Haddad	5th Bristol	Vanna Howard	17th Middlesex
Carole A. Fiola	6th Bristol	David M. Rogers	24th Middlesex
David K. Muradian, Jr.	9th Worcester	Paul K. Frost	7th Worcester
Todd M. Smola	1st Hampden	James J. O’Day	14th Worcester
Susan Williams Gifford	2nd Plymouth	Tackey Chan	2nd Norfolk
Jacob R. Oliveira	7th Hampden	Linda Dean Campbell	15th Essex
Thomas M. Stanley	9th Middlesex	Rob Consalvo	14th Suffolk
Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr.	12th Hampden	Norman J. Orrall	12th Bristol
David Henry Argosky LeBoeuf	17th Worcester	James M. Kelcourse	1st Essex
Jessica Ann Giannino	16th Suffolk	Marcos A. Devers	16th Essex
Kip A. Diggs	2nd Barnstable	Richard M. Haggerty	30th Middlesex
Ann-Margaret Ferrante	5th Essex	Carlos González	10th Hampden
Gerard J. Cassidy	9th Plymouth	Marc T. Lombardo	22nd Middlesex
Sheila C. Harrington	1st Middlesex	Jack Patrick Lewis	7th Middlesex
Kenneth I. Gordon	21st Middlesex	Tram T. Nguyen	18th Essex